Mindhorn
classified 15Please note: This was screened in June 2017
The Mighty Boosh's Julian Barratt and co-writer Simon Farnaby's joyously off-the-wall creation sees a washed up actor reprising his 80s TV role (as a sleuth with a robotic truth-telling eye, naturally) to catch a deranged killer.
Barratt plays Richard Thorncroft, an actor whose career peaked with hit 1980s detective show Mindhorn, about a sleuth with a robotic eye that allowed him to literally 'see the truth'. Mindhorn fled to the Isle of Man, to recuperate in the island's temperate microclimate, and became the best plain-clothes detective the place had ever seen. Fast forward 25 years, however, and Thorncroft is an increasingly desperate, paunchy has-been living in poverty in London.
But when a Manx criminal demands Mindhorn as his nemesis, Thorncroft returns to the scene of his greatest triumphs for one last chance to reignite his glory days, professional credibility, and even a romance with a former onscreen/offscreen flame. A loving send-up of vintage home-grown detective shows and much more (with terrific support from Farnaby, Steve Coogan and Essie Davis), Mindhorn is already being hailed as the next great British cult movie comedy. Enjoy!